On Sophie’s Redemption From The Perspective Of Psychoanalysis In Sophie’s Choice

William Styron is an outstanding and creative American novelist. He isn’t limited not only to American South tradition, but also pays attention to survival condition and fate of human being. Sophie’s Choice is a wonderful realistic novel. It received American Book Award in1980. Since the novel is punished, it has received more and more attention from academic critics and reached considerable achievements. Psychoanalysis is the analysis of the psyche. Personality theory is the essence of Freud’s psychoanalysis. Admittedly, Freud’s theory has a great impact on Styron’s creation. However, there seldom explore Sophie’s Choice through this perspective. This thesis will attempt to analyze Sophie’s redemption process from the perspective of Freud’s personality theory. We could get a better understanding of Sophie’s inner world and realize three problems of passion, ego and redemption of mankind from the novel.This thesis could be divided into six parts.Chapter one gives us a brief introduction to William Styron and Sophie s Choice. On the basis of sufficient literary reviews, it presents research significance, research methods and points.Chapter two introduces Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. It lays emphasis on the theoretical concepts of personality theory. Besides, it describes the feasibility of unity of personality theory and the thesis.Chapter three discusses Sophie’s survival and sexual desire from the level of the id. Sophie tries her best to overcome all the difficulties and seeks survival in the concentration camp and America. Her sexual desire is repressed, but the enthusiasm of Nathan could be regarded as a way of liberating her strong desire for sexuality. This is Sophie’s survival instinct.Chapter four explores Sophie’s religious belief and spiritual sustenance from the level of the ego. Sophie’s attitude to religious belief is affected by cruel reality which changes her from a devout believer to a person getting rid of religious belief. She activates some defense mechanisms and attempts to stay away from the threats of pain by means of music.Chapter five makes a study on Sophie’s sense of guilt and the ways of her redemption from the level of super-ego. It presents a process that Sophie’s behaviors violate social morality. She is condemned by her conscience for her wrongdoings. In order to relieve the sense of guilt, Sophie attempts to seek ways of redemption, including her death. Chapter six is conclusion of this thesis. It makes a summary of main points of the thesis and shows new findings of the thesis. Sophie’s redemption concretizes Freud’s personality theory. Moreover, we could learn a lesson from it. It presents the difficulty of redemption of mankind.